Angel Drabbles
by Kairos Impending
Summary: A series of unrelated drabbles centering on the characters from Angel. Left open for future additions. Ratings will be T or under.
1. Eating a Dead Horse

Eventually hunger won out and they were forced to feed on the gelding, leaving it weak and terrified. Angelus held the animal's head for Darla as she wrinkled her nose in disgust and sank her fangs in behind its ear, and then they remounted and were off again at a gallop.

An hour later the gelding died beneath Angelus, and he cursed it as he rolled away from the tumble but still insisted they drain the body of its blood, knowing they would need the extra strength.

They doubled up on the mare, and Angelus visualized Holtz screaming for mercy.


	2. Gets Easier, Takes Practice

Charles helped the waitress to her feet. White chick with too much mascara and a dumb tattoo-- this wouldn't be easy. "So, I know you got a lot of questions..."

"They were vampires. I know. They're not the Lonely Ones."

"Yo, Gunn!" Rondell was on his way back down the alley. "Who's this?"

"Uh. This is..." Charles took a look at her uniform's nametag. "...Anne. She was just telling me about the...Lonely Ones."

"What? Who's the Lonely Ones?"

Anne answered, but it was Charles she addressed, her eyes big and sad and wiser than he could have imagined. "We are."


	3. Sadly, He's the One With Ops

*CharmQuark has entered #vampirewithasoul

(WatcherJr) I HAVE met him. He's my sister's ex.

(Moderator) Yeah, right.

(CharmQuark) Dawn Summers?

(WatcherJr) Do I know you?

(CharmQuark) I'm Fred, I work with Angel. He heard about the 'chatty rooms,' but he was too shy to come in here himself.

(Moderator) Guys, we don't make stuff up in this room, okay?

(WatcherJr) Oh, Willow mentioned you! How are things in LA?

(CharmQuark) Up and down. Angel's son is kind of a problem...

(Moderator) Vampires can't even have sons, lameass.

(WatcherJr) That's sad.

(CharmQuark) Yeah, Angel's taking it hard.

(Moderator) EVERYONE KNOCK IT OFF


	4. Best Invented Word Ever

"Okay, Phantom Dennis, now we're rolling. I'll preheat the oven and you be the poultrygeist and get the guts out. This can't be too hard, right?"

Apparently, though, it was. The chicken burned, the smoke set off the fire alarm, and Cordelia realized belatedly that she didn't understand a single one of the abbreviations used in the recipe.

"I give up," she sighed, watching the fans turn themselves on and the windows open of their own accord. "I don't know who I would share it with anyway. What's the point of cooking when all of your best friends are dead?"


	5. You Can't Prove It Didn't Happen

"You're a right lucky girl, findin' a man who would marry ye when you're already with another man's child. Foolish and headstrong, but lucky."

"Nobody will know. The babe can take his name, same as me, and be raised as a trueborn son."

"Hmph. Well, as long as ye won't be seein' that scoundrel Liam anymore."

"Of course not."

And she wouldn't. She didn't even intend to let Liam know about his unborn child, let alone trust him as a father to it. He was gone from her life, and the only name that mattered to her now was Doyle.


	6. RIP Andy Hallett

He had been wandering the streets since he left Pylea, but when he heard the sound coming from inside a building nearby, he forgot everything else and snuck in through the back.

A cow was on a stage, her voice forming words in a way he had never heard outside of his own dreams, and as he listened, he realized that he was learning everything he needed to know about this world, their ways, and their _music._

His newfound ability surprised him. The beauty of the song stunned him.

Incongruent coloration be damned. This was home now. This was paradise.


	7. Quietly Knighted

As tradition dictated, Quentin Travers spoke the words to each vow, and the initiate simply repeated them. Wesley followed form, but he didn't need the prompts. He had memorized the vows years ago.

It wasn't just a career, it was a sacred duty, handed down through the generations for centuries. Serve with fidelity and humility and protect the innocent, no less than the champions of bygone days.

_Kneel, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce._

"You are now officially a member of our order," said Travers. "Sworn to all responsibilities, and entitled to all rights and privileges."

_And arise,_ _Sir Wesley of the Watcher's Council._


	8. Tin Man

"Aw, Fred, did you make this? It's adorable!" Cordelia picked up the heart-shaped pillow. "Uh, why is it…ticking?"

"I put a watch in there. I thought, babies are supposed to like the sound of a heartbeat, but Angel doesn't have one, so maybe he could hold this when he holds Connor." Fred sighed. "But then I remembered, Connor's mama didn't have a heartbeat either, so maybe it's different for him, and now I don't know if I should bother giving it to Angel."

"I think you should," said Angel, suddenly right behind them. He smiled. "Just take the watch out."


	9. There Goes the Neighborhood

"Did you know him?"

She shook her head, affecting indifference and hoping to dispel her sister's curiosity. And it was the truth, in a way. She had never met him, so she didn't know him.

The part that she would never admit, at least to her beloved family, was that she recognized him. She still prayed daily for the visions to leave her, but just as fervently, she had prayed that they were fake, that the handsome man with his evil smile did not exist and never had.

That hope was gone. They had locked eyes, and he was coming.


	10. Not My Mother's Side

It wasn't karma caused the blunder. I was just bein' clumsy. Aimed the hammer at the nail, got the hand instead. Hurt like a bitch, though. So I'm wobblin' a bit and I touch my forehead and…wait. Why's my face feel like…oh God, all _over_ my face, what the devil's happening to me?

I run for the bathroom, hopin' the mirror's got some other story, and then I see it, with the spines and all, and all I can do is lock the door so Harry won't know. Oh shit, she's gonna leave me. Oh shit, I'm a… Oh shit.


	11. Line of Descent

Angelus glanced up at Darla as she entered and then turned back to his book. Best not to show any excitement over her return. "The Master released you, did he? How is the old coot?"

"He had some choice words about you, dear boy, but he's as…powerful as ever." She frowned at the other occupants of the room. "Who's this? Made yourself a friend, Dru?"

"It's called William," said Drusilla proudly, petting him.

"Ah." Darla's eyebrow arched at the newly made vampire. "What an odd coincidence that the Master was just telling me that his descendants were becoming too unruly."


	12. It Worked, Part 5

He'd been having the strangest dreams, which made it all the more confusing when he woke up in a hospital. He didn't belong there. Hospitals were for humans. Furthermore, he felt like he was on some kind of pain medication, also for humans, and sitting beside his bed…no. Definitely a dream.

Much later, all of the illusions were still there, and he decided to try speaking with the one that resembled Buffy. "How did I get here?" he asked.

"I found you under some monsters. Trying to save the world, it seems."

"Hm." He thought about that. "Did it work?"


	13. Artistic Restrictions

The brush feels strange in his hand, intimidating. Cordelia bought him a full set of paints and he owes it to her to put them to good use, but it's been decades since he tried to branch into other media and he isn't sure how to begin.

A landscape, maybe. Open sky. Something hopeful.

His frustrations mount as each stroke of blue makes the picture look more like a sham. In the real world, he only sees this color under artificial light. He can hardly remember looking up to a sky that wasn't black.

Cordelia won't be getting a landscape.


	14. 10 Origins in 100 Words

It started with a girl.

It started with a vision.

It was all about acting in Hollywood.

It was getting sacked by the bloody Council.

It was a way of life.

She just wanted to study physics.

He was conceived of magic and despair, bought by sacrifice.

He stepped through a portal and never looked back.

It's _hard_ for a vampire to find a decent job!

There was this amulet, and it burned him up but for some sodding reason it was tied to the evil firm, so he reappeared there and…oh, forget all that. It started with a girl.


	15. I Take Shipper Requests

As so often happened, hours slipped away as the argument wore on, but this time, they were in no danger of forgetting where it had started.

"I'm not saying you're a _bad_ kisser," Cordelia reasoned. "I just, you know, hope your technique has improved since then."

"You can't judge me entirely on that one experience! What about the second time?"

"Honestly? I wasn't paying attention."

Wesley rolled his eyes. "Of course you weren't; I was simply the latest in your round of experimental vision-unloading. And on the matter of technique, might I suggest—"

"Oh I'll show _you-!"_

"….Mmph."


End file.
